Who + What + When + Where?

Fade to Change will host its First Barber Basketball Game on May 7 at Brutontown Community Center, 200 Leo Lewis St. from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fade to Change was founded by Javis Rhodes, a Greenville native and barber at Born 2 Style, LLC.

All proceeds from the event will go to Fade2Read, according to Rhodes, who says the fundraiser will also promote local businesses and "bring the community together."

"You’re always going to have someone who wants to come out to a basketball game," he said. "It’s something to give back to the community where it ain’t involving alcohol or something negative."

What is Fade2Read?

Fade2Read is a nonprofit organization working to promote literacy among black children in Greenville County by delivering bins filled with books to barbershops.

The program is run by two elementary teachers, Shiree Fowler and Samantha Boyd, and the goal is to provide access to books for children outside of the classroom. The two also place books in salons, with "CurlUpWithABook," as well as child development centers.

After Fowler's brother was killed in December 2015, the two decided to create something that "honored him and made a difference."

"We understand that if they do not receive the education they need, especially in the area of literacy, they can end up incarcerated, or they could end up like my brother and they're no longer here," Fowler said. "And we want to prevent that. And literacy is really the answer."

After seeing a similar program in New York and then Florida – delivering books to barbershops for kids to read while they get their hair cut - the two brought the idea to the Upstate. By January 2016, Fade2Read was launched.

Why put the books in barbershops?

"Who else better than a barber?" Fowler said. "Who's cool? You have this individual who you think is one of the coolest dudes ... telling you to read, that's gonna change your mindset of what reading is. And so we really want to instill that joy and love of reading."

"We know as African-Americans, we know you're definitely going to go to the barbershop and you're definitely going to get your hair done," Boyd said. "So why not give access to those books for young kids while they are there in those settings? Sometimes the barber or the hairstylists could possibly be the only positive role model in their lives."

On average, Rhodes, who got his first book box delivery on Dec. 7, 2016, cuts a child's hair every two weeks - for some it may be once a week – and the kid could be in the shop for 30 minutes to an hour and a half waiting and then spend between 20 and 30 minutes in the chair. "That’s when they can read a book to you, talk to them about how their day went," he said.

What kind of books are they using?

The Cooperative Children's Book Center, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, received 3,400 children's books in 2016, and 278 of those books were about African or African American kids. Only 92 of the 278 were written by Africans or African Americans. Fade2Read tries to supply books that reflect the children they are trying to reach – so they can see themselves – but also provides representation of different interests and professions – so they can see what's possible.

"'When you see yourself in a book, you see what you can become,'" is a mantra Fowler repeated. "A lot of our books are about the civil rights movement and slavery, but we're trying to get away from that because there's so much more."

Fowler has spend time in local bookstores searching for relevant books, and independent authors across the country have donated books as well. (Books by self-published authors are much less likely to be found at school or the public library since they are not mass produced by a large publishing house.)

One popular book with the group is the Danny Dollar Millionaire Extraordinaire book by Ty Allan Jackson, which is about a boy who starts a lemonade stand. Another popular book is about a young black boy who is also super hero.

"They can say, I can see myself in Javon. I'm Javon. I can be Javon. I can be super. I can be duper," Fowler said. "We want them to see who they can become through a book."

Why bring this to Greenville?

"I'm so Greenville," said Rhodes, who has lived in Greenville his entire life. "Greenville is building up a lot downtown, there’s building’s coming up, expanding as far as business, but the people in the community… they’re getting moved out of their places that they stay in or there’s a lot violence.

"We can’t build up Greenville without strong youth. I’m so Greenville, in so many ways. I’m trying to build Greenville, and I’d like to be a part of what’s to come."

"Why don't you go to the library, why don't you just go downtown?" Boyd said. "It's not that easy to people that are within a certain class, if that makes sense." And Rhodes added, "Most parents work all day, oftentimes two jobs - it’s impossible to work one job and support a family, especially in Greenville County." The poverty rate is as high as 58 percent in parts of Greenville County, according to a June 2016 Affordable Housing Assessment.

How is all of this getting done?

Rhodes paid out of pocket to rent the gym, but has put together initiatives to fund the rest of the event. On Saturday, the organization hosted a car wash on South Pleasantburg, and there's a live GoFundMe page to help fund the cause. For more information, you can email fadetoread@gmail.com. For the literacy nonprofit, social media has been a large launching board for reaching authors, volunteers and book donors. You can follow their Instagram account here.